RSSC Minerva

[hvsteve1]

I opened my new issue of Voyages and see the pages for the new "Minerva". I wonder how many emergency PR meetings it took to decide that "Explorer II" was no longer a good name for the ship that sails the Antarctic (seeing as Exporer "I" is sitting on the bottom).:D I remember,on my recent Voyager cruise, the cruise consultant answering questions about whether that was the Regent ship that went down.

[TedC]

As I recall, Explorer II was Minerva and sailed out of UK prior to being renamed Explorer II. During summer seasons Explorer II was renamed Alexander Von Humboldt and charted by a German travel firm for cruises aimed at Germans.

 

Also, I understand Explorer II was sold recently to another cruise Line, World Discovery, that also operates a former Princess ship as Discovery. I think A&K still charters the ship for Antarctic voyages, as does Regent.

[NCCruzQueen]

We noticed the name change to Minerva in the Daily Passages on the Navigator Dec. 14th sailing.

[Travelcat2]

Just read the latest A&K brochure -- the Minerva was listed. On the A&K website, a press release from early July, 2007 announced the name change that will take effect May, 2008. Now I'm curious if this was announced prior to the Explorer accident. . .:confused:

[Hambagahle]

This was and is the same boat! As I recall the chronology, about 4 years ago Swann Hellenic was operating it under the name of Minerva. Then Swann Hellenic got a new boat - 650 capacity and more modern. the "old" Minerva became Explorer II and the new S.H. ship was called "Minerva II". Last year Carnival took Minerva II away from Swann Hellenic and put her with another one of their lines leaving Swann Hellenic with no boat! Now, Swann Hellenic has a very, very loyal following in the UK. People who cruise on this line think that it is the ONLY way to see the world. They don't care about food, not so much about comfort. What they do care about, and Swann Hellenic provided, was excellent lectures given by a group of very highly qualified people. So the "Swann Hellenic-ers" were extremely distressed when Minerva II left, leaving them high and dry so to speak!

Some English chap then bought the Swann Hellenic name, and set about looking for a ship. He came up with Explorer II - the old "Minerva" - and presumably hired her back with a name change. Friends of mine who love Swann Hellenic were ecstatic until they discovered that with her reduced capacity (350 vs 650) ALL the cruises they wanted to book were full by the time the brochure reached them!!

So - starting in Spring 08 Swann Hellenic is back in business and they re-named Explorer II Minerva. Back to square one! I can only assume that RSSC preferred to continue to use the ship under that name rather than Explorer II for reasons mentioned previously in this thread.

 

Here is another interesting bit of info - Nigel someone-or-other who works for RSSC and leads the RSSC cruises to Antartica, told me in Nov 06 that when RSSC operates what was Explorer II they significantly reduce the passenger load and bring their own Executive Chef on board to provide a more Regent-style quality experience for the passengers.